Tag Archives: Persicaria hydropiperoides (Wild Water Pepper)

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all doing well! The weather has dramatically changed here and not for the better. An “F” is in the forecast and even “S”! “S” in October?!?!?! I have never seen that happen before and hope I never do. I moved the plants inside last week and now I have to figure out what to do with all of them. They all have a place so now I have to get them there.

This is the last wildflower walk post. That’s a good thing because in a few days I will probably not be able to take any more wildflower photos until next spring.

The above photo is of the neighbors Honey Locust (by the northeast corner of the north hay field). There are a lot of pods on the ground and in the tree.

I found a couple of very long pods in the south hayfield but I couldn’t see the tree they came from (maybe from a tree along the trail). These trees grow pretty tall, so on a windy day, their pods can travel fairly far. I have heard a lot of talk from farmers about how they battle the Honey and Black Locust trees and their seedlings. I think there are only two or three Honey Locust here on the farm but I have never seen any seed pods on them. They are very old and tall trees with LOTS of HUGE thorns.

Well, I better get to the wildflowers, huh?

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Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle)

The Japanese Honeysuckle still has a few flowers but nothing like earlier. This is definitely not a species to plant in your garden as they are quite invasive! Thankfully they are only present in the fence rows and along the boundary between the farm and the trail. I did see one coming up next to a tree in front of the chicken house, but I pulled it up as soon as I saw it. It is a good thing the Japanese Honeysuckle doesn’t produce many seeds. I thought I saw some in one spot but then I realized it was wrapped around its cousin with the seeds. The above photo is a little deceptive, I suppose, which I didn’t notice when I took the photo. The large leaves are NOT from the honeysuckle. They are possibly from a blackberry.

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Lonicera maackii (Bush Honeysuckle)

Strange, but I just noticed the Lonicera maackii (Bush Honeysuckle) when I was taking these photos. I had no idea what it was but I had to ID what was growing these berries… As it turns out, they are another invasive Honeysuckle. This one doesn’t vine like its Japanese cousin but it is invasive nonetheless. I saw this one close to the southeast corner of the south hayfield and there are a few more growing farther down the side. There were, of course, Japanese Honeysuckle wrapped around its branches trying to confuse me. The Bush Honeysuckle produce flowers similar to the Japanese so that is why I didn’t notice they were a different species during the summer

<<<<Doesn’t count as a wildflower>>>>

Maclura pomifera (Osage Orange)

The Osage Orange have been really prolific this year and the fruit is HUGE. I guess you can call them fruit… Around here, we call them Hedge Trees for some reason. At least that is what was brought up calling them. Most of the old fences with old fence posts are from these trees. They never rot and are very, very hard. I still have a lot of hedge posts that have been in the ground at least since the 1960’s when grandpa built the original fences. They are STILL very solid in the ground because I think grandpa put concrete around them. The old posts have a lot of cracks in them which is where I drive in the fence staples. If it weren’t for the cracks I would never get a staple in the post.

I was on a forum a while back and someone posted a photo of an Osage Orange and asked if it was a walnut… Oh, I think I posted about that before. Well, I guess if you have never been around them you wouldn’t know what they are.

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Monarda fistulosa (Bee Balm, Bergamot, Etc.)

Even though the Monarda fistulosa haven’t been flowering for a while, their old heads are still very interesting.

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Persicaria hydropiperoides (Wild Water Pepper, Swamp Smartweed)

There are several species of Persicaria growing on the farm and it took several trips to get them properly identified. The Persicaria hydropiperoides is very similar to Persicaria punctata (Dotted Knotweed). The main difference I saw was at the joins on the stems. All Persicaria, and many other plants, have a sheath (ocrea or ochrea) that forms around the joints where a stipule also grows. A stipule is like a stem part of a leaf. Anyway, the ocrea on Persicaria species all have hairs growing from the top. The joints on Persicaria hydropiperoides are reddish brown. That coloration is farther above the joint on Persicaria punctata instead of at the joint. There may be other features that separate the two and there may be indeed Persicaria punctata growing somewhere on the farm. All the white-flowered Persicaria I checked, though, have the same features.

Persicaria really like damp areas but are also drought tolerant. The biggest colony of Persicaria (three species) is behind the chicken house under a couple of Chinese Elms. The biggest colony of Persicaria hydropiperoides is next to the pond in the back pasture. Wildflowersearch.org lists 11 species that grow in our area. I have identifies three here. Typically, most people call any of them Smartweed.

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Persicaria maculosa (Lady’s Thumb)

The Persicaria maculosa is by far the most colorful of the Persicaria crew. They not only grow in the pasture, but also in the flower bed on the north side of the house. You would be surprised how many people comment on them before the other plabnts in the bed. A friend came by a few days ago, and even though the Heliotrope had a nice, big beautiful purple flower, he commented on the Smartweed! Well, truthfully, the only reason they are still in the bed is because I have taken a liking to them as well.

One of the common names for the Persicaria maculosa is Lady’s Thumb. Not all them have this coloration on their leaves, but many other Persicaria species also have this pattern. I had previously identified this plant as Polygonum persicaria which is now a synonym of Persicaria maculosa.

Plants of the World Online by Kew lists 100 accepted species of Persicaria from nearly EVERY country in the world.

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Persicaria pensylvanica (Pinkweed)

There aren’t as many of the Pinkweed as the other two species in this post. They have pale pink flowers and their flowers are clustered close together as with the P. maculosa. The flowers of the Pinkweed are larger than the other Persicaria species.

There is actually a fourth species but I didn’t take any photos of it this year… It is the Persicaria virginiana (Virginia Knotweed or Jumpseed). I don’t know if you remember, but I posted about the one growing under the steps to the back porch last year. There is more than one now and I also noticed them in a few other places.

I also took photos of a Persicaria species at the park in 2013 which I identified as Persicaria attenuata. That is possibly not correct and that species is not on any wildflower plant ID websites for Missouri. Ummm… Plants of the World Online doesn’t even have it listed although version 1.1 of The Plant List says it is an accepted name. The Wikipedia also has a page for the species and says it is native to Asia and Australia… It has been five years so I don’t remember how I ID’d it as Persicaria attenuata.

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Rosa multiflora (Multiflora Rose)

This is, of course, rose hips from a Rosa multiflora (Multiflora Rose). Let me see, now… How many Multiflora Rose bushes are growing on the farm? I really don’t know and probably don’t want to know anyway. I have cut down several, pulled out a few with the tractor, mowed over them with the rotary mower, and yes, even sprayed with Roundup or something similar. No matter what, they always come back. Now, I will admit, they only are a pain in the neck where the electric fences are growing and only then when I need to replace the wire or clean out the fence row. The worse is when I need to remove the old wire and posts to mow and a post is smack in the middle of a bush. As far as I am concerned the Multiflora Rose is here to stay because it wins pretty much every argument and fight we have had.

Rose hips are very valuable and have many uses. I read where you can even eat them like a berry but the seeds have hairs inside that you need to watch out for. (I will take their word for it.) For sure, Multiflora Roses make a great hiding place for rabbits and quail. But then again, I haven’t seen any quail on the farm for many years and I don’t remember seeing any rabbits this entire summer.

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Rudbeckia hirta (Black-Eyed Susan)

There are only a few colonies of Rudbeckia hirta left blooming on the farm. That is, I am 95% they are Rudbeckia hirta. I have several of them growing in flower beds, besides the domesticated cultivars, but they fizzled out quite a while back. So, that makes me wonder a little.

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Solanum americanum (Black Nightshade)

Yep… This is the Black Nightshade. The name itself reminds me of the grim reaper. I saw several of these growing in the pasture behind the chicken house and really hadn’t noticed them before. So, since the flowers were very small and interesting, I just had to take a lot of photos to make sure I had a few good ones for ID. Then I found out they were Solanum americanum, the Black Nightshade. I went out a few days after that and they were completely gone… I guess the cows must have found them tasty. These plants are very poison and have many bad chemical compounds and are even poison to livestock. It is just weird how these plants disappeared… The species is very variable and has been confused with other species in some areas. The three websites I use the most all agreed from the several photos I took that this plant is indeed the Black Nightshade, Solanum americanum…

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Solidago sp. (Goldenrod)

Of course, this is a Solidago species, but which one. While there are several species of Solidago that can easily be ruled out, there are many that look so much alike. Even botanists and horticulturalists have trouble telling some of the species apart. According to the Missouri Conservation Department Field Guide, there are at least 20 species of Solidago in Missouri but their website doesn’t have separate listings. The wildflowersearch.org website does list all 20 but that website doesn’t show distinguishing features. There are links to other websites so maybe a few of them can further help to identify the species… The photo of the above plant was as tall as I am and all the flowers on the plants in this group had already turned brown or getting there.

There were shorter plants growing in a few other areas but that is because they had been mowed when the hay was baled. Wildflowersearch.org is a good site because it tells you how likely various species are to grow in a given area… I stopped looking after five candidates said they were 100% likely to grow here…

Solidago species have very complex flowers. I took several close-ups but this one was the only one that wasn’t blurry.

In a future post, I have two daisy-flowered species I want to show you. At first, I thought they were the same species but were different because some of them had been mowed off earlier. BUT, that was not the case. Two different genera and possibly more than three species…

I am still amazed at how many different species of wildflowers are present on this 38 acres. I took a few photos of plants that weren’t flowering to keep an eye on next spring and summer. I saw quite a few just walking across the south hayfield. Just think how many wildflowers are now growing along the trail in all the trees that have grown up… A few years ago I walked around in one area looking for morels and saw quite a few interesting plants including some ferns.

OK. I better stop writing so I can publish this post. Until next time… Take care, stay warm (or cool depending on where you are), stay positive, and be safe! As always… GET DIRTY!